Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Sphinx]

Yikes, sorry about your bad day, kvmommy.

Congrats on the flashlight michelle!!

Ugh on the smelly egg- I have a terrible sense of smell, so I'd have a tough time figuring out which one was the bad one.

 

[BBAcres]

Went to the medieval fair today and seen a white silkie roo. Bigger than what I expected. But now I REALLY can not wait until my eggs hatch!!!! I love my pullets and I'm praying these Ameraucana's hatch since that's all I really wanted. But I am super excited about owning Silkies and wish they were here already!!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
No stupid questions. Most eggs will naturally have the large end up when laid on their sides. I have some maran eggs that don't seem to know which end is up, but other wise eggs will sit with the large end slightly higher. So you have a choice, lay on sides or place in a cut down egg carton.



If you put the egg on its side and gently wiglle it, will the end that needs to go up in the egg carton be a bit higher? I ask because it is nearly impossible to tell if the chick is upside down int the Marans eggs.

Is it better to always put the end with the air cell up in the egg carton?

Thanks!




Yes, it is always better to put the end with the aircell up when incubating or hatching in an egg carton. The embryo rights itself realative to the large end early on in development, I don't remember the exact time, but about 5-7days of incubation.

The best way to determine large end is to look for the aircell. Some, well actually, most of my FBCM eggs are very uniform and I cannot tell which end is the large end. I will store them on their sides until I can figure out which end is which.

I have had chicks pip at the wrong end, and they usually cannot zip. I will open the shell for them about 24 hours after the pip. I haven't had this happen with the few marans I've hatched rather with a brown egg (vs chocolate eggs. ).

Less than a week to go! I'm locking down my early eggs tomorrow, those set on Thursday.

For those running on time, today is -
Day 15 (360 hours)

I was worried that my air cell is not large enough. I have dry hatched, and actually couldn't find my %RH thing and when I did, I forgot to move it into the incubator. My PC fan is located under the red plug, only the red plug is out.

Thanks for posting these awesome photos!

Quote:
THe first broody I had built a very deep nest in a corner. THe eggs were stacked. One by one the chicks hatched and the cuties were removed to a brooder. How does the hen know how to manouver around the eggs is beyond me. A strong shell certainly seems to be a requirement! To get to my point, football is not a possiblity when the eggs are stacked under a hen. Perhaps egg cups are a good alternative to cartons or laying on the floor of the hatcher.

I got a brand new flashlight.

Can you see better???

 

[AK Michelle]

DH & I stopped in at Lowe's for parts to fix a shower, then stood in line to checkout. Conveniently the flash light rack was at that particular check stand. I just did a test-candle on all the eggs on the fridge... WOWWEE!! I can almost see the bullseye through the shell.

 

[Pinx]

Chick #1. 2 pips, 1 possible pip. This whole process needs to hurry up lol, I'm to impatient with just one chick in the bator.

 

[champer]

Aww, so cute! Such an exciting and nerve wracking time when they start to hatch!

 

[Pinx]

Aww, so cute! Such an exciting and nerve wracking time when they start to hatch!

Thanks. Yes very nerve racking. I have both bators beside each other and the bator I am using to hatch had a temp drop. From about 101 on top of the eggs to 95. I don't know why either, the bator beside it is holding steady which confuses me the most. Maybe my son bumped the knob while looking at the chick

. The chick was out for a while before it dropped. hmmm...

 

[Razadia]

I'm caught up. I'm surprised to see so few posts today. I though I'd been looking at at least 200 posts. I had a fun day, but it ended in me not feeling well and being very very sun burnt.

On another less painful note, I'm going to DragonCon later this year. I'm excited!

 

[Cynthia12]

LOL are they hard to hatch? Didn't seem any different than chickens eggs to me or turkeys for that matter. I had them all in the same incubator and have had 10 of 12 chicks hatch, 5 of 5 ducks hatch and have 11 of 13 turkey eggs viable and doing well. I heard turkeys were hard too but...

Seems the same to me. I keep temps and humidity the same for them all and turn them 3 times a day by hand and in a LG incubator with no fan just still air. I have great hatches. I will try and remember to post pics tomorrow.

You just have the touch. Tell us your secret.

 

[Cynthia12]

Less than a week to go! I'm locking down my early eggs tomorrow, those set on Thursday.

For those running on time, today is -
Day 15 (360 hours)

Lockdown for me tomorrow too. I have them pretty much set..getting the humidity up some tonight. Here we go!